HR: 17:35h
AN: SM24A-06 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: The Role of the Plasmasphere in Controlling Relativistic Electron Precipitation
AU: * Millan, R M
EM: Robyn.Millan@dartmouth.edu
AF: Dartmouth College, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy 6127 Wilder Lab, Hanover, NH 03755, United States
AU: Woodger, L A
EM: Leslie.Woodger@dartmouth.edu
AF: Dartmouth College, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy 6127 Wilder Lab, Hanover, NH 03755, United States
AU: Goldstein, J
EM: jgoldstein@swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, Space Science and Engineering Division 6220 Culebra Rd., San Antonio, TX 78238, United States
AU: Sample, J G
EM: jsample@ssl.berkeley.edu
AF: Space Sciences Lab, U. C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
AB: Resonant interaction with plasma waves is a primary cause of pitch-angle scattering and subsequent precipitation of radiation belt electrons. In the region outside the plasmasphere, whistler-mode chorus (~kHz) causes intense microburst precipitation, particularly during the main phase of geomagnetic storms. In the plume region near the plasmapause, EMIC waves (~Hz) may strongly scatter electrons with energies above ~1 MeV, leading to intense precipitation. Within the plasmasphere, plasmaspheric hiss (~100 Hz) is responsible for the creation of the slot region between the inner and outer radiation belts. This talk will briefly review the expected role of the plasmasphere in controlling the location of these waves and the resonance condition for relativistic electrons. We then present recent results investigating the location relative to the plasmasphere of observed duskside relativistic electron precipitation. Data from IMAGE EUV, POLAR EFI, and LANL MPA are used along with a simulation of the plasmasphere to determine how the evolution of the plasmasphere affects the spatial location and distribution of observed precipitation.
DE: 2716 Energetic particles: precipitating
DE: 2730 Magnetosphere: inner
DE: 2768 Plasmasphere
DE: 2774 Radiation belts
DE: 7867 Wave/particle interactions (2483, 6984)
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly